After a childhood crush, a couple gets a second chance at true love.

Sarah and Patrick share a dance at their reception.

Sarah and Patrick share a dance at their reception.

With nosy chaperones, empty punch bowls, and forgettable DJs, most middle school dances aren't ripe scenes in which to find long-lasting romance. But don't tell that to 27-year-old Merrill Lynch investment banker Patrick Lanni. "I was in the eighth grade, and I just knew," Lanni says of meeting his bride, Sarah Smith, at a Pasadena, California, dance 14 years ago. As the story goes, Patrick was invited by Louise Huttinger to the event, where he became smitten by her best friend. Sarah, a 26-year-old childhood education master's student at Bank Street College of Education, in New York, was none the wiser. "I really had no idea," she says. "I was 12!"
They kept in touch over the years—Patrick lived next door to Sarah's older sister Cynthia when he attended the University of Southern California (Sarah was at the University of San Diego)—but it wasn't until a weekend in June 2011 that the two truly reconnected, again with Huttinger's help. "Louise mentioned that Sarah would be moving home to Pasadena from New York that weekend, and Louise was going to fly down from San Francisco, where I was also living, to see her," Patrick says. "I told her that I'd always had a thing for Sarah, and she suggested I come too. I 'accidentally' ran into them at the Burbank airport, and Sarah's mom drove me home." The courtship quickly ramped up from there, and Patrick moved back to Pasadena that August. Their closeness only intensified after Patrick's father Terry passed away that summer. "We really fell in love when that happened," Patrick says. "I saw all the qualities in her that I thought of when I first met her: beautiful, kind, caring." In July 2012, after a year of dating and around the first anniversary of his father's passing, Patrick proposed to Sarah in Ravello, Italy, a favorite family vacation spot on the Amalfi Coast. "It was a place that meant so much to Patrick's family, and now he was sharing it with me," Sarah says.
There was no question about where the wedding would be. Given the natural beauty of the surroundings, simplicity was key for the ceremony, which took place at the 19th-century Hotel Santa Caterina. Lush green myrtle leaves and vibrant white peonies, lilies, and roses served as the back- drop for their vows. Sarah wore a strapless lace princess-cut Oscar de la Renta gown; Patrick wore Tom Ford. As for the reception, Sarah describes it as a "wild party. Some of Patrick's friends are pretty crazy, so it definitely got a little rowdy. We stayed up till 5 a.m., and some of the boys took off their shirts!" The celebration continued for the newlyweds on a nine-day Moroccan honeymoon. Sarah says of the lavish affair, "We are so lucky," to which her now husband Patrick replies, "No, I'm the lucky one."